LAKSHMI, iu Hindu mythology, the name of the consort of the god Vislum'n (q.v.), and considered also to be his female or creative energy. According to the mystical dome trine of the worshipers of Vishn'u, this god produced the three goddesses, Brahml, Lakshmi, and Chan'dika, the first representing his creating, the second, his preserving, and time third, his destroying energy. This view, however, founded on the superiority of Vishn'u over the two other gods of the Ilindu triad—Bra:mil, or 84ifaswati, being generally looked upon as the energy of Brahma, and Chan'd'ikil, another name of Derga, as the energy of Si vais later than the myth, relating to Lakshmi, of the epic period; for, according to the latter, Lakshml is the goddess of fortune and of beauty, and arose from the imcca.n of milk, when it was churned by the gods to procure the beverage of immortality, and it was only after this wonderful occurrence that she became the wife of Vishn'u. When she emerged from the agitated milk-sea, one text of the Ramilyan'a relates, "she was reposing on a lotus-flower, endowed with transcendent beauty, in the first bloom of youth, her body covered with all kinds of ornaments, and marked with every auspicious sign. . . . Thus originated, and adored by the world, the goddess, who is also called Padilla. and ..S"ri, betook herself to the bosom of Hari—i.e.. Vishn'u. A curious festival is celelmrated ill honor of this divinity on the fifth lunar day of the light half of the month Mil7ha when she is identified with Saraswa tl. the consort of
Brahma, and the goddess of learning. In his treatise on festivals, a great modern authority. Raghunandana, mentions, on the faith of a work called that Lakshmi is to be worshiped in the forenoon of that day with flowers, perfumes, rice, and water; that due honor is to be paid to inkstand and writing-reed, and no writ ing to be done. Wilson, in his essay on the Religious Festivals of the (works,.vol. ii. p. 183, ff.), adds that, on the morning of Feb. 2, "the whole of the pens and ink stands, and the books, if not too numerous and bulky, are collected, the pens or reeds cleaned, the inkstands scoured, and the books, wrapped up in new cloth, are arranged upon a platform, or a sheet, and strewn over with flowers and blades of youcg barley, and that no flowers except white are to be offered. After performing the necessary rites .. .. all the members of the family assemble and make their rostrations; the hooks, the pens, and ink having an entire holiday; and, should any emergency require a written communication on the clay dedicated to the divinity of scholarship, it is done with chalk or charcoal upon a black or white board." In different parts of India, this festival is celebrated at different seasons, according to the double aspect under which Lakshmi is viewed by her worshipers. The festival in the month Magha seems origin ally to have been a vernal feast, marking the commencement of the season of spring.